Ryukyu Shimpo, Ota Masahide, Mark Ealey and Alastair McLaughlan, “Descent into Hell: The Battle of Okinawa.”¹ The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 47, No. 4, December 1, 2014: “Those who had not been able to take their own lives with grenades were worried about being left alive. They had to find other ways to kill themselves, and the former ward chairman’s behaviour had set the example. Some used scythes and razor blades to slash themselves, while others strangled themselves with lengths of rope. As the mayhem unfolded, they found all sorts of ways to kill, some bashing others to death with rocks and sticks. Men bashed their wives and parents bashed their children, young people killed the elderly and the strong killed the weak. What they felt in common was the belief that they were doing this out of love and compassion.”

Anna Fifield, “In Japan’s Okinawa, saving indigenous languages is about more than words,” Washington Post, 11/29/14: “‘Someone told me that my playing was fine but my Okinawan sounded American, even though I don’t speak any English. Maybe it was because I don’t look Japanese or Okinawan,’ Fija said after class, wearing a traditional Japanese outfit with an Okinawan pattern. His Okinawan pronunciation, he said, was the equivalent of a Japanese person singing in English ‘I rub you’ instead of ‘I love you.'”

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¹ “This article has been adapted from Descent Into Hell – Civilian Memories of the Battle of Okinawa, which is based upon the Senka o Horu series of articles published by the Ryukyu Shimpo from 1983-85. The English translation was published in 2014.” – Ryukyu Shimpo.